Trial biking legend Dougie Lampkin turned Goa into an obstacle course. We kept the camera rolling. |
| Dougie Does Goa (Image Credit: Neville Sukhia / Red Bull Content Pool) |
Dougie Lampkin is a rockstar in the world of Trial Biking.
His trophy cabinet is filled with a dozen-odd Indoor and Outdoor Trial Biking
Grammies. You might mistake his 6’ 2” frame to lack nimbleness but the
dexterity with which he wafts his 69 kilogram bike around will even surprise a
Ninjutsu master with nunchucks. The 39-year-old is a champion at making his
Vertigo Combat Camo trials motorcycle dance to his tunes.
Recently, Dougie unleashed his ‘Greatest Hits Collection vol. 1’
when he landed on the Indian shores. We caught up with the big Yorkshireman to
know more about his beats.
Your family has always been into motorsports, but how did you
manage to get into trial biking specifically?
I started with trials because my father was the first FIM Trials
world champion in 1975. And to be honest, it’s only the trials that I’ve been
interested in all my life.
How old were you when you started?
I grew up around bikes. I started riding when I was 3 years old. I
started to do some local competitions when I was 9 and I did the British
championship at 12. I started in the adults category when I was 17 and in my
first year I won the European championship.
How is the motorsport culture in Yorkshire?
In my area where I grew up, the motorsport culture is the biggest.
We have the best terrains and fortunately my family has been riding in the same
discipline since years and we have friendship with a lot of land owners so we
have a lot of opportunities to ride.
How you tried anything else – circuit racing or anything else?
I’ve tried a lit bit of motocross and extreme
enduro but only for fun, nothing serious really.
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| "Houston, we have lift off!" (Image Credit: Neville Sukhia / Red Bull Content Pool) |
How does one train for trials?
Trials is
one of the easiest disciplines to train. Unlike in the circuit racing, we don’t
need a circuit or track marshals or anything of that sorts. We only need a nice
piece of terrain and we can start to play and start to train.
Speaking of training, what was the training schedule like when you
were participating in the championships?
Most championships would be on Saturday & Sunday and so we
would have Monday off. After that we would train for 3-4 days – about 4 hours
per day on the bike and [we’d] also go to the gym and mountain biking. I always
preferred to ride the bike as much as possible because it’s good for physical
training and also good to keep the level up.
And how do you train now?
Mainly just
like riding the bike. I enjoy riding the bike and I also enjoy mountain biking,
that’s really where I get my training from. I ride much less now compared to
before. But when I was doing the world championship, there was be no time like
this to come to places like India and have fun. While I don’t ride in world
championship now, I still have a lot
more opportunities like this one to go around the world at
shows, festivals and other places and to explore new countries.
What’s been your toughest challenge till date?
We were
looking for something new and something really challenging. We rode in an ice hotel in Finland. We were riding
between -5 and -15 degrees. Performance of the bike wasn’t good because of how
cold it was for the tyres and the suspensions. The performance of the rider
wasn’t very good either. That was one of the most challenging places I’ve ever
ridden.
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| Rise and shine (Image Credit: Neville Sukhia / Red Bull Content Pool) |
What can a country like India with limited motorsport
infrastructure do to produce a future trial biker champion?
Things like these take time to develop. Just 4-5 years back you
had stunt riders from outside coming in to perform and now you have stunt
biking teams and competitions in India. In my limited time here I have realized
that it seems like over the last 3-5 years, there has been a quite a lot of
progress in motorsports in general, and also in stunt biking and custom bikes
and there has been an increased interest in two-wheelers as a whole.
This is my first time here and hopefully I will be able to come
back here again. And hopefully start something small in India. The progress
will be slow but one will have to start small for sure. And after that let
things take a natural course.
You said Yorkshire has one of the best infrastructure, what can
the government and the agencies do in India to replicate the same?
You just need natural terrain, really. And from what I can see,
there is plenty of natural terrain. I understand, sometimes it gets complicated
with respect to permissions like at parks and such other places but I’m sure
there are plenty of places to ride.
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| Fresh off the boat (Image credit: Neville Sukhia / Red Bull Content Pool) |
It’s your first time in India. How’s it been?
I’m loving the place. Everyone’s friendly. Especially on this
shoot – lot of friendly people. We’re having a lot of fun. Especially when
there are such tough days. Yesterday, we had a 12-13 hour day shooting all over
Goa on the first day of the shoot and everybody is busy but there’s a good
atmosphere here. Really good atmosphere.
How was it riding on the longest
staircase you’ve ever ridden at Reis Magos Fort?
Yes, those 120-odd steps staircase was the longest one I’ve ever
ridden. While coming back up, at a point the rear tyre slipped a bit and I was
fighting with the bike for last 6-8 meters to get to the door and the door
itself is a bit small. The main reason why this happened is because they steps
are uneven as they were built a long time ago when there were no rules or
regulation about the height of each step or the length of the staircase. But it
was good.
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| Man and machine at the end of the play day (Image credit: Neville Sukhia / Red Bull Content Pool) |
Quick-fire round:
Two wheels or four?
Always two. Guaranteed.
Favourite bike?
1956 Norton 500 T trials.
Favourite trick?
Wheelie. Everyone loves wheelies
– from when you start riding as a kid to when you grow up.
What will we find in your dream
garage?
Lots of classic British road and
trials bikes: Triumphs, BSAs, Ariels, AJS, Norton, etc.
While we wait for Dougie Lampkin’s next tour to India, hit play in the
above video and marvel at his latest blockbuster that’s #DougieDoesGoa.
Disclaimer: The article was first published on RedBull.com
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